Lift Advice

[Al_trees]

Cool MA arborist. I just read up to the original post and saw it was from North East. Our SD 50 has been a good machine too. We just bought a new truck with a rear mount 75' elevator. Total different animal.

 

[DupreeLLT]

you can always cheat some on the setup to get some extra angle out of it...

sd64 for me though

 

[EasternArborist]

So I ended up getting the SD64, it took a while to arrive like everything else these days. I could not be happier with the machine. It is badass. The machine is stable as hell, I haven't felt unsafe up there fully extended while wrestling big limbs. Turf tires are great, I drive (carefully) over beautiful lawns all day, no problem. If anyone is considering one feel free to reach out. Thanks to everyone for all the input.

 

[VenasNursery]

So I ended up getting the SD64, it took a while to arrive like everything else these days. I could not be happier with the machine. It is badass. The machine is stable as hell, I haven't felt unsafe up there fully extended while wrestling big limbs. Turf tires are great, I drive (carefully) over beautiful lawns all day, no problem. If anyone is considering one feel free to reach out. Thanks to everyone for all the input.
View attachment 78834

Congrats

 

[MA Arborist]

So I ended up getting the SD64, it took a while to arrive like everything else these days. I could not be happier with the machine. It is badass. The machine is stable as hell, I haven't felt unsafe up there fully extended while wrestling big limbs. Turf tires are great, I drive (carefully) over beautiful lawns all day, no problem. If anyone is considering one feel free to reach out. Thanks to everyone for all the input.
View attachment 78834

Congratulations on your new machine!

That will most likely be my next one.

Please keep us updated on it!

 

[Fivepoints]

Congrats.

I dont mean to rain on your parade, more of a heads up. We help a friend with an SD64. Its an absolute nightmare to get parts for at times. Several times its a 3 month wait. Some stuff has been back ordered indefinitely. Multiple times we have been sent parts that dont fit the machine even though we give nifty the serial number. We have also gotten one bad brand new part. It usually takes 3 to 6 calls to get to a parts person. Sometimes we have tried for two days to get ahold of anybody in parts. The machines themselves are decent but have to much electronics. The controls in the basket dont tolerate being out in the weather. The service on the other hand sucks.

 

[OasisTree]

We put 1800 hrs on our last SD64 in 3 years, and had very minimal trouble with it. I feel that for what the cost is versus it's capabilities, it is a very good value.

And regarding the controls not handling the weather, why would you store a machine that costs that much out in the weather anyways?

I do wish they had other parts centers, but in their defense they are not the only ones having trouble getting parts.

 

[EasternArborist]

Parts are hard to get for everything, that's to be expected these days, Id imagine since most/all of these lifts are manufactured out of the country Nifty isn't the only one. When comparing other manufacturers machines part wait times are probably comparable, hopefully I won't need to find out any time in the near future.

As far as being in the weather, they don't advertise you can leave the machine outside, the Dinolift on the other hand is supposed to be weather tight. I keep my SD64 inside when not it use, so far so good. Also I have used it in heavy rain and wind without an issue.

 

[Fivepoints]

Parts are hard to get for everything, that's to be expected these days, Id imagine since most/all of these lifts are manufactured out of the country Nifty isn't the only one. When comparing other manufacturers machines part wait times are probably comparable, hopefully I won't need to find out any time in the near future.

As far as being in the weather, they don't advertise you can leave the machine outside, the Dinolift on the other hand is supposed to be weather tight. I keep my SD64 inside when not it use, so far so good. Also I have used it in heavy rain and wind without an issue.

This has been going on for years, pre pandemic.

The controls die just from being outside working, not storing it outside. Having a lift that can't be rained on isn't to good. Our area we get a lot of pop up showers in the afternoons.

My buddy is pretty fed up with his. He mentioned the other day that he's spent $39,000 in lift rental to cover the downtime of his niftylift SD64 over the past two years. This was after it left him stranded about 40 ft in the air when it suddenly stopped working with no warning.

 

[VenasNursery]

This has been going on for years, pre pandemic.

The controls die just from being outside working, not storing it outside. Having a lift that can't be rained on isn't to good. Our area we get a lot of pop up showers in the afternoons.

My buddy is pretty fed up with his. He mentioned the other day that he's spent $39,000 in lift rental to cover the downtime of his niftylift SD64 over the past two years. This was after it left him stranded about 40 ft in the air when it suddenly stopped working with no warning.

Every manufacturer has lemons unfortunately

 

[EasternArborist]

This has been going on for years, pre pandemic.

The controls die just from being outside working, not storing it outside. Having a lift that can't be rained on isn't to good. Our area we get a lot of pop up showers in the afternoons.

My buddy is pretty fed up with his. He mentioned the other day that he's spent $39,000 in lift rental to cover the downtime of his niftylift SD64 over the past two years. This was after it left him stranded about 40 ft in the air when it suddenly stopped working with no warning.

Thats too bad, I hope he got it straightened out and is making his money back now. And I hope mine keeps running without issues.